On an Upward Crawl on the Learning Curve ...

A watercolor by Chen-Wen Cheng

Another of his works

Reference photo - I just happened to be at the library a few weeks ago when the magnolia out front was in full bloom.

Start with thin washes of quin. gold and indanthrone blue, trying to integrate the subject with the background.

More of the same ...

More thin washes, with a touch of quin. burnt orange for the base of the flower and in the mixture for the branches. I added a second branch to make a break in the expanse over which I have to do a w/w application. It has turned out to be better compositionally.

I think I'm getting it, but I have a long way to go till I feel comfortable using this technique.

In my computer photo library, I have a section titled "Inspiration". There are about a hundred images of watercolors I love, paintings from which I want to learn. Chen-Wen Cheng is a Taiwanese painter, a master of integrating background with subject. I became frustrated with the latest horse painting, and it finally hit the shower [literally] a few days ago. There are so many times, when I am working on a painting, that I wish I could successfully soften and almost fuse some of the subject with the background. So I started the magnolia yesterday as an exercise to practice this method ... and there will be many more!!!

Thank you for dropping by! 

Voodoo II Is Underway ...

This is the reference for another Voodoo painting.

He's very large, about 17.2 hh. [his back is well over my head] He is not classically "pretty", but he has a very noble face and eye.

Another shot, giving more of an idea of his size, and the boniness of his head.

Sketch

I masked out his eye, and did an all-over wet-in-wet application of cobalt and indanthrone blue. Then I started working on the structure and shadows of his head and neck with a black mixture.

I removed the mask over the eye, and you can see the "white" of the paper there - looks almost beige, in comparison to the background of the painting.

I worked on him for several hours today, going back and forth between very dry applications and softening the edges, and painting very wet. At this point, I think the basic idea is there. I'd like to get some hardness to the look to give more of an impression of the boniness of his head. And, of course, an eye would be good, too!
That's it for today.

Thank you very much for dropping by!

This and That ... Some Works in Progress ... Some Life in Progress ...

FINALLY ... I think I am finished with Miss P. I have sent an image of the painting to the owner, and have left it for her approval. I scruffed the background, did some more detail and darkening in the shadowed areas, and put a bit of shadow around the other eye. It looked like a marble lost in the snow without it.

Time for a change in animals! I did two cat drawings [Maine coon cats] to do as demos for my watercolor class. I have one serious cat fancier in the class. And I wanted to show them that you can use the same techniques for all subject matter - flowers, animals, still life ... 

For the background, I soaked the entire area around the cat, and applied indigo at the perimeter. First I had to clean the well of paint - hadn't used it for about ten years, and there was a fair bit of horse, dog, chinchilla and cat hair in there! The eyes I first wet, stroked in aureolin, then dropped in cobalt blue. After it dried, I wet it again, stroked in cobalt blue, and added a few dabs of quin. burnt orange. The nose is a w/w application of quin. coral and quin. sienna.

I've done a w/w wash, using cobalt blue and a bit of quin. burnt orange.

And now for Maggie's part in the story. She has improved immensely! She is more calm, and always comes when called. However ... she still has energy to burn, and it takes the form of digging and disappearing shoes. I don't know how she fit in that tub to do all that digging!

And these are a pair of my muckers my landlady found floating in the pool. She very kindly retrieved them, and propped them up by the door to drain.

And last, but certainly not least, The Big Guy! He is starting to shed out, so is quite itchy. Here, you can see he's had a fabulous roll on the ground to scratch that itch!! It's quite mild here right now [T-shirts in the afternoon] and drying out, so I have been able to start doing a bit of riding again. I missed it SOOOO much, and Bruno missed the contact and routine [and carrots], too.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

My Second Venture with the Rose ... and Bruno ...

I am still bound and determined to capture the essence of this rose ...

... but have decided to go yellow rather than peach in color.
Both of these photos are taken in my friend's back yard. She does love her garden! And I do, too!!!

This is after at least 10 w/w washes of aureolin, phthalo green,  burnt orange and alizarin to get the dark background. Thankfully, the masking cooperated this time - YAY!!!
The shadowed areas of the rose I have painted with a thin glaze of aureolin. The leaves are done w/w with aureolin, phthalo green, quin. gold and burnt orange. I think there's a touch of alizarin and indanthrone here and there, too.

More color on the rose shadows - thin quin. gold.

I have done the shadows again with a brown mixture of quin. gold, alizarin and phthalo green.

I think I am done with the brown. My plan is to go into the shadows again with warm, bright colors - yellows, pinks, oranges ...

As for Bruno, he had 5 days off [he pulled a shoe, I had to go into Vancouver, it was pouring rain ...]
When we finally got together yesterday, he wanted to play a rip-snorting game of "Who's the Boss"! Horses, being herd animals, constantly jockey for higher positions in the wild. The acts can be subtle - a look, a posture - or extreme - an all-out fight-to the-death. One must be vigilant and observant, noticing slight changes of posture and position, shifting of hooves. It's a quite the job, maintaining one's leadership. I really find it so hard to be masterful and disciplined all the time with a horse. I see all of them through the eyes of  Anna Sewell and "Black Beauty". Yesterday, His Nibs tested me the entire time, and I was exhausted, but I saw the exercise through to a good conclusion. Here's hoping today will not be so trying!!!

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome!

What the ??? ... or ... Another Watercolor Mystery

Yesterday, I had been trying to do background washes without masking. It got to be just too awkward. So I let the painting dry, and applied masking to the flower and leaves, let it dry, and started applying washes of orange and green.The above photo is after at least four washes ...

... and this photo is after about ten washes. It really is a beautiful, glowing background. Unfortunately, when I was taking the masking off, I found it to feel like it had been mixed with honey, so sticky and tacky to the touch, and a real stinker to get off the paper. The masking did not come off well, and thin filmy bits remained as well as an overall sticky feel to the paper. I was hoping to be able to do more with the flower and leaves, but this is it. Thankfully, I have another one traced onto paper, and I've started painting the background.
I'm curious - has anyone else had this happen with masking fluid?

Thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome!

Another Class Project ...

I started with an overall wash of aureolin, applied wet-in-wet.

I masked out the stamen and pistils. Then, again w/w, I dropped in quin. sienna. I also put down the first wash of the base of the petals, using aureolin, quin. sienna and phthalo green.

I stroked some alizarin crimson on the petals, and painted the stem with the yellow, orange and green mixture, adding shadows w/w with just the green and sienna.

At this point, I am trying to achieve an appearance of depth to the petals, using alizarin crimson, w/w.
Long way to go yet. This demo is more advanced, but I hope not too much so.
I'd like to put a background in, but I'm not yet sure what I want to do ... not too dark.

I thank you for dropping by. Your comments and questions are always welcome.